“The Dining Room”

This weekend is the WC production’s of “The Dining Room.” Like the title suggests, the whole play is set in a dining room. It depicts many scenarios that can happen in a dining room, including a maid polishing silver & babysitting, an old man making his funeral arrangements, a children’s birthday party, family fights, Thanksgiving with a mother who suffers from Alzheimer’s and an couple caught in an affair to name only a few. There were 18 scenes in all, over 50 characters, the roles played by a cast of 10. Though snow on Friday took kept some from attending, the cast members still did a great job-kudos to all!

Christ on Campus

There are 2 Christian groups on campus, Chi Alpha and Cru (Campus Crusade for Christ). Both meet on Thursday nights. Chi Alpha meets at 6:30 and has more of a worship focus. After praise songs, Ken or Tara teaches a short lesson. They also have a game night on Wednesday evenings in the Underground and a lunch Bible study at the TOP on Tuesdays. This week, 5 members of Chi Alpha were baptized in the YMCA’s pool Thursday! Followed by a reception, it was a special time for everybody :)

Cru is a more recent addition to WC. It is a Bible Study held @ 9:00 on Thursday nights.  The semester started with the viewing of some short films and discussions about how they all related to our lives & Christ’s love for us. We have now started a study of the Book of Galations. It’s very fascinating and I’m learning a lot, as well as meeting some cool new friends, like Josh, the study leader from Cincinnati. Actually, I’m about to head there now-catch you guys later! :)

SNOW DAY!!!!!

To the delight of college students everywhere, classes were cancelled yesterday! Campus was buried under at least a foot of fluffy white snow. Some friends and I took full advantage of our snow day, and made three HUGE snowmen right in the middle of campus. Of course, snowball fights were a part of the process ;) along with tackling and even soccer! They were impressive snowmen, bigger than both me and my friend susan (at 5’9 and 5’10 we’re the tallest in our group). We dug some sticks out for arms and after a few hours, went to Pyle for hot chocolate and coffee. Unfortunately, while we were warming up, a group of guys decided our snowmen would make a good fort, so they dismantled them. When we came out to walk back to the dorms, we were very offended that our creations hadn’t even lasted an hour! Needless to say, we decided our snowmen must be avenged. This decision resulted in four freshman girls body slamming said fort full of upperclassmen guys in the middle of a snow war...very entertaining :D

“Chitram: A Portrait of India”

Tuesday night I attended the latest installment of the Issues and Artists Series. It was entitled “Chitram: A Portrait of India.” Though the presentation wasn’t the best, the dancing was very impressive. Most of the performers were actually from the Cincinnati area. They performed 3 dances: the garba, a folk dance, the bartanican and the catec, a more modern form of dance. The first dance was a group dance, with many circular patterns, bright colored dresses and drumsticks. The second & third featured solo dancers. The second was focused on facial expressions and very straight lines. The catec revolved around spins and turns. All the dancers wore bells on their ankles-very cool. We also learned about the Indio-Celtic genre, created in India in the late 1700s. Neither Indian, nor Keltic, it is a unique combination that was created during the colonial invasion of India that has become very popular with children. There was also a yoga presentation. Since I started college I’ve been taking yoga classes from my friend Matt, so I was very excited to recognize so many positions such as the tree, cobra, crane, candlestick, cosmic dancer, warrior and eagle. These were only a few parts of the presentation; it was a great opportunity to learn more about India’s culture and history.